Maintenance Lead in Kenosha, Wisconsin at Vonco Products LLC

Role: Maintenance Lead

Reporting to: Maintenance Manager

Role:

The Maintenance Leader provides hands-on technical leadership for plant maintenance with an emphasis on expert-level electrical diagnostics and repair, while guiding a small team of technicians to ensure high equipment reliability and minimal downtime. This role combines advanced troubleshooting of electrical systems (including 480 VAC 3-phase, controls, PLC/HMI) with strong mechanical aptitude to support and improve the performance of converting, printing, lamination, slitting, and packaging equipment across the facility.

Key Responsibilities

• Safety & Compliance
  • Champion a strong safety culture; ensure all work follows OSHA, NEC, and company safety standards, LOTO procedures, and machine guarding requirements.
  • Verify all equipment safeguards are installed and functioning; conduct routine safety audits and corrective actions.
• Technical Leadership
  • Serve as the site’s electrical authority for complex troubleshooting on motors, VFDs, PLCs, HMIs, sensors (photo eyes, proximity, encoders), heaters, thermostats, timers, and industrial instrumentation.
  • Lead root cause analyses (RCAs) on chronic equipment issues; implement permanent corrective actions and standard work.
  • Interpret and update electrical schematics, ladder logic, single-line, and line-to-line diagrams; maintain accurate documentation.
• Maintenance Execution
  • Diagnose and repair electrical and mechanical faults on presses, laminators, slitters, oxidizers, compressors, HVAC systems, and auxiliary equipment.
  • Plan and perform preventive and predictive maintenance (PM/PdM); optimize PM tasks and frequencies based on data.
  • Oversee installations, upgrades, and commissioning of new equipment, including layout, alignment, and power/control integration.
• Planning & Coordination
  • Experienced in TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) methodologies.
  • Prioritize daily work, assign tasks, and coordinate with Production, Quality, and EHS to minimize downtime and schedule planned work.
  • Utilize the CMMS to create work orders, manage backlog, document repairs, and maintain accurate asset histories and part usage.
  • Collaborate with vendors, contractors, and OEMs for technical support, parts, and service as needed.
• People & Performance
  • Coach, mentor, and develop maintenance technicians; identify skill gaps and deliver hands-on training (electrical safety, troubleshooting, PM best practices).
  • Set clear performance expectations; monitor KPIs (MTBF, MTTR, schedule compliance, PM completion, unplanned downtime).
  • Promote a customer-service mindset among production teams and model professional communication and teamwork.
• Continuous Improvement
  • Drive reliability initiatives (5S, standard work, kaizen) and recommend design or control changes to improve safety, quality, and OEE.
  • Support spare parts strategy and critical spares identification to reduce the risk of extended downtime.
• On-Call Support
  • Participate in and/or coordinate after-hours call-in support to resolve critical issues and maintain production continuity.

  Schedule

• Full-time with flexibility to support off-shifts and weekend/after-hours call-ins as business needs require.

Qualifications

• AAS degree in Electrical Technology or equivalent technical training/certification; or significant hands-on experience in industrial maintenance with an electrical focus.
• 7+ years of industrial maintenance experience, including expert-level troubleshooting of 480 VAC 3-phase systems, controls, and industrial automation.
• Demonstrated proficiency with PLC ladder logic concepts, HMI interfaces, VFDs, servo systems, sensors, and industrial instrumentation.
• Strong mechanical aptitude with experience in gearboxes, pneumatics, hydraulics, bearings, alignment, and mechanical rebuilds.
• Ability to read and create/modify electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, and mechanical prints.
• Competent with CMMS, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Excellent verbal and written communication; ability to lead, train, and influence cross-functional teams.
• Proven track record of driving safety, reliability, and continuous improvement.

Preferred Additional Qualifications

• Experience in converting/packaging/printing environments (e.g., presses, laminators, slitters, bagmaking/packaging manufacturing machines).
• Familiarity with oxidizers, air compressors, chillers, and HVAC.
• Calibration experience (temperature, pressure, flow) and basic instrumentation tuning.
• Exposure to NEC compliance, NFPA 70E electrical safety, and LOTO program leadership.
• Experience with structured problem solving (5-Why, fishbone, A3) and reliability engineering concepts.

Physical & Work Environment Requirements

• Frequent standing, walking, climbing stairs/ladders; ability to lift and carry up to 50 lbs.
• Work around moving machinery, electrical panels, elevated platforms, and occasionally in hot/cold, noisy environments.
• Use of appropriate PPE and adherence to all safety procedures.